Poisoned Fortune

Chapter Six

You Murdered Your Father?

When they were out at the parking lot, Eric led Diane to his car. he asked, “are you a sushi person? I was heading out for lunch and I’m craving some sushi.”

Diane gave him a raised eyebrow, then smiled. “Are you asking me out on a date without actually asking?”

Eric chuckled. “You’re smarter than I give you credit for.”

She curtsied. “That’s a compliment. I’ll take it.”

Eric leaned against the car. “If I’d asked, would you have said yes?”

She shrugged. “It depends. I have a delivery to make today.”

“You work with delivery agencies?”

“Just one.”

“Oh. It’s lunch. It won’t matter much. Get in and right after we see your car, I’ll take you to this sushi place that makes the stuff seem like heaven came to earth.”

“You’re really a charmer, Mr Casper.” She got in the car, then said, “nice ride.”

Eric acknowledged that and then sped off towards the garage. It took about fifteen miuntes to get there. The garage owner had already replaced the side mirror and working on replacing the glasses that had been ripped by bullets.

“…after that, I’ll have it spray-painted to cover the scratches,” he concluded.

Eric nodded. “Make it look like brand new.”

The man nodded. “Got it, boss.”

“Just out of curiosity,” Diane asked, “how much will all this do-over cost?”

“That’ll be approximately…”

“Never mind,” Eric said. “The bill is on me so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“But it’s my car.”

“And you wrecked it saving my ass. Don’t worry about the bill.”

“Thank you,” Diane said. “And I mean it. There are some rich assholes who’d not pay a dime and I wouldn’t do anything to them. You have a good heart, Mr Casper.”

That touched Eric in places he hasn’t been touched in a long while. His heart was fluttering but he masked it with a bold smile. Clearing his throat, he said, “I would prefer you call me Eric. My father was popularly called Mr Casper so I don’t think I should be called that.”

“As you wish.”

After having a few more exchanges with the garage owner, Eric and Diane left to grab sushi. The restaurant was not a really fancy one but it did ooze quality and importance. When they got the menu, Diane exhaled. “Thanks for not bringing me to a place that sells a dish for six figures.”

Eric laughed. “I wouldn’t take myself there too, Diane. I’m a man of modest income.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked. “You can afford to eat whatever you like and not feel it.”

“Maybe now, but there was a time I worked three jobs and almost 100 hours a week. Lunch is on me.”

Diane shook her head. “No, I think I can afford this. Maybe next time, you’ll pay in full.”

Once again, Eric found himself mirroring her smile. Diane was simple to some extent and she talked fluidly and seemed to know a lot. She had an intriguing personality. Normally, Eric had his guard up in case the girl he was out with started fawning and trying to suck up to him. so far, Diane seemed to admire his status but not want to dig in. that was nice for a change.

“So, you’re speculating that there’ll be another date?” he asked.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” she said, chuckling. “You caught me there.”

Well, an idea for a second date wasn’t too bad. They ordered and Eric kicked things off by asking, “so, where did you learn to drive like that?”

She shrugged. “It was just adrenaline.”

Eric scoffed. “Please. I raced unprofessionally on bikes and I can do stunts and manoeuvres but nothing has ever come to me by pure adrenaline. If you don’t have the skill, you can’t magically replicate its effects.”

“So, you think I’ve practiced before?” she asked. Eric nodded and she smiled. In her mind, she thought, yeah of course living with a man in the marines definitely meant learning some skills to stay alive. But out loud, she said, “I just took racing serious some years ago. I’m getting rusty.”

“That’s cool,” Eric said. “Have you ever considered bike racing? It’s fun and has the same level of excitement.”

“I don’t know, but maybe I could try it out some day.”

Eric nodded. “Perfect.”

That’s it? Diane asked herself. He wasn’t going to ask her to join him in one of his bike races? Did he want her to ask? Eric was a gentleman. She could tell he liked her but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry about anything. It sort of relaxed Diane.

True, she had some plans that had Eric at the centre, but she appreciated him for being a gentleman. No rush.

They talked for a while as they ate and then Diane raised the question that bothered her most. “so, do you have any leads on who might want you dead?”

He shrugged. “Some but nothing concrete. The police are still working on it.” He didn’t want to tell her details about his family and his suspicions. It was too risky.

She exhaled. “I’ve been thinking about it and it doesn’t seem that the sniper was serious about harming you. look at it this way. He shot at you, missed and then he let you wander into the crowd and then someone else follows you but doesn’t hurry to take a shot and disappear in the commotion.”

That was possible but Eric considered other factors too. “What if they didn’t want to cause a public scene?”

“Trust me, whoever tried to do this didn’t want to make it look like an accident. If they wanted to, they could’ve gone about it differently. I think this was a message to tell you that you were being watched.”

Eric frowned. “You mean they will try again and this time, they won’t miss?”

“I don’t know but you need to be careful.”

“I’ll try,” he said and then exhaled.

They spent the lunch date talking about their interests, likes and dislikes. Eric felt refreshed because Diane was so easy to talk to. She made him laugh and she also understood his quirky humour. It wasn’t every day that people found his jokes funny and the fact that she did was amazing.

Thirty minutes later, they walked out of the restaurant. Eric glanced around before stepping out. It was odd because even if there was a sniper waiting for him, he couldn’t see them hiding wherever they were hiding.

“So, will I get the notebook back soon?” Diane asked when they were at the entrance.

He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll call you when I have it within the week. It’s in good hands.”

She nodded. “I hope so.” She started to walk towards the car but spotted something slipped into the hood of the car. “What’s that? A parking ticket?”

“I parked in the right spot so there’s no violation.” Eric pulled the paper and found a printed note that sent shivers down his spine.

‘I know what you did. You murdered your father and the whole world will know of it.’

Enraged, Eric crushed the paper and slipped it into his pocket.

“What does it say?” Diane asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing serious. Get in.”

….

Sally wore a turtle necked white blouse with crystals lined at the front. She matched that with a pair of jeans and sun glasses. As she sat in the police’s office, her delicately manicured fingers were splayed out on the table.

Soon, detective Henry Ford of the 17th precinct joined her. he sat down and asked, “so, what did you have for us?”

“I don’t know if it makes much sense but I found something on Eric Casper.”

Henry frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think it’s possible that he staged the attack on himself and then faked everything just to look clean?”

Henry scratched his head. Damn, this was getting messy. “It’s possible but we don’t have a reason to believe that.”

Sally scoffed. “Come on, think about it. He claims a sniper shot at him but missed? He couldn’t be so lucky to escape a serious assassination attempt. This must have been a show. Do you think it’s possible that Ernest was murdered too?”

Henry shook his head. “We’ve gone over this several times but unless we have some evidence to back up what you’re saying, Eric can only be as innocent as everyone else until proven guilty.”

“But, officer…”

“Do you have anything to back this claim of yours?”

Sally paused, thought about it and decided that it wasn’t worth it. That notebook contained a lot of information written in ghost ink. The handwriting didn’t look like Eric’s but the information in it, though not very clear to be read easily, did hint on something.

Eric was involved in a plot that was very huge. But Sally couldn’t blow it just yet. She shook her head. “It was just a hunch. I’ll get back to you if I have anything concrete.”

Henry nodded. “That would be much helpful.”

Sally left, but was filled with a conflicting feeling. Could Eric have killed Ernest just to play innocent till he got the inheritance? Could he have murdered his father?